11 Plus Exams Forum

I understand that KE Grammers test on the following:

Verbal Reasoning
Non Verbal Reasoning
Maths
Reading Comprehension

But when it comes to assigning the marks are all the above taken into account or only VR, NVR and Maths.

Also what % does each subject contribute to the final exam mark?

Finally according to the info provided not all the questions are MCQ - is this correct?

Hi mh1

All of the questions in both papers are categorised as falling into either Verbal, Non Verbal or Numerical categories. The verbal category would include VR as well a comprehension type questions.

Each of the 3 categories are then marked and a raw score produced.

Each of these categories are then Age Standardised. The total score is then the sum of the 3 scores.

So in answer to your question each category counts for 1/3 each of the total marks.

The exam varies year on year so I don't know whether they are all MCP or not.

Again check the posting by fm and KE Mum for more details on previous year

Kenr

As always thank you for the response.

Final point which I failed to address in the initial message are there set and equivalent number of questions for each of the topic.

Hi mh1

No there are different number of questions in each category, I obtained the following information for the 2005 test:-

I managed to obtain the full Age Standardisation results for 2005 from the foundation and worked out what a score of 116 equated to in terms of raw scores for a child of the same age as my child last year. My child took the exam last year.

For 2005 this was a score of 64/100, 44/82 and 50/70 for VR, Numerical and NVR respectively. (Note: quite a lot lower than the typical NFER scores for other LEAs as the test is a lot tougher)

So you can see that there were 100 VR type, 82 numerical and 70 NVR in that year. But you need to remember that there were a lot of synonyms in that year which are a fast response. The numerical and NVR take a lot longer to answer.

Remember they do change year on year, often quite dramatically. The important thing for any child doing the KE 11+ exam is to be prepared for the unexpected. So a variety of different ty pe of tests is a good idea.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the ace response- you've been very heplful

''Remember they do change year on year, often quite dramatically''- Is Birmingham the only region that conceals the contents of the 11 plus exams.

You mention change each year- does that imply the varaition amount of questions for each section e.g VR, numerical

''The important thing for any child doing the KE 11+ exam is to be prepared for the unexpected.'' I commend children who take the courage to do these exams- its an opportunity that I never took.

''So a variety of different ty pe of tests is a good idea''- Can you please elaborate on this point. I am guessing that attenpting tests from different booklets Bond, IPS etc is intended here.

Thank You Ken R

Hi mh1

Its the KE Foundation, not Birmingham LEA, that has switched to using the Univ of Durham CEM for the 11+ tests. Birmingham still uses more traditional NFER type tests for Sutton Coldfield/Bishop Vesey exams.

Not sure about any other LEA at the moment, but we think Warwickshire is switching to the Univ of Durham CEM tests next time. They did a trial at Alcester grammar last year - all of their year 7 did an online CEM exam and Durham analysed the results for Warwickshire and made a proposal to run the new 11+ tests based on a number of options. They considered switching last year but decided to use NFER for 1 year only (they used Morey House prior to that but these were discredited as the actual tests used were in published for educational establishments)

In respect of different type of tests - yes variety is important so I would look at a range of conventional and E-papers many of which are available from this site at a pretty good discount. See

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/epapers/index.php

When my last child did the 11+ exam (thankfully a few years ago) we purchased as many different type of 11+ papers we could find and tried them all, often many times over. In those days it was a case of having to use a rubber to erase the previous answers; e-Papers help a lot now. However there is a much greater variety these days. For the KE Foundation 11+ an extensive vocabularly is essential - and perhaps more importantly the child needs to know the precise meaning of the words. The problem is that many children have a generally good vocabularly, but only a vague meaning of a particular word. This isn't good enough for the exam and the synonym section.

On the maths side, we found the NFER was actually quite good.

If you want to find out a bit more about the philosophy behind the Univ of Durham CEM have a look at their site and in particular their marketing material. You should be able to find this by a google search. I think the product is called GetINTU.

Take a look at some of the posts by fm and previously KE Mum in the Birmingham Forum.

On a separate subject, do you live in Birmingham or one of the adjoining LEA and do you have a son or a daughter? What KE School are you considering?

The reason I ask this question is that the pass mark for the various KE Grammars varies quite significantly between schools. I've monitored the minimum exam pass marks over the last few years and there is a distinct difference in terms of the degree of difficulty of getting a place.

It's more difficult for boys to pass than girls and this can have a significantly bearing if you live in a LEA than only allows 3 preferences on your LEA Admissions form (such as Worcs or Dudley). Please bear this in mind when making you preferences.

Thank you KenR for that very involving read.

In response to your message- I'm based in Birmingham and contemplating on applying for possibly KE Camphill and Aston (not sure about Five Ways) for my male child and nephew.

From previous posts I understand that pass marks are higher for Camp Hill than Aston and Five Ways.

I've not considered grammer schools in other regions e.g. Solihull/Dudley primarily due to transportation issues and also I was unsure whether applications could be submitted to schools outside of Birmingham region.

Hi mh1

There are no grammar schools in Solihull: however a number of the comprehensives are very good and popular, and it has in the past been very difficult to get a place from outside the borough unless you are close to the border as admission is generally based on catchment areas.... it would depend on the birth rate 10 years ago! However you can apply to schools anywhere in the country - they need to be listed on Birmingham's form in order of preference.

Solimum